If
you are thinking of buying a straw animal or bird and would like to know the
prices, please contact the straw store http://www.thestrawstore.com/ Tel 01223 892861

NEW Straw Vulture

Straw Labrador

Straw fox and cubs

Straw fox stalking a hare

Straw swallow

Strawrunning
hare
Straw barn owl

Sitting straw cat

Straw kangaroo

Straw elephant family

Straw Aeroplane ( Stirling bomber )

Straw Redshank

Straw Armadillo

Straw Rat

Straw Chicken

Straw Badgers

Fox and cub chasing rabbit

It is many a year since hayricks and straw stacks were thatched. Rick
ornaments took various forms - a cockerel or a bird,
a cross or a
crown, a boat, an apple or a turnip, a "churn", a "mell" or a
"kirn".
These were usually
secured by an ash-pole to the apex or the gable end
of the corn rick.

A
thatch covering on a rick or stack was only a temporary form of
covering,
unlike the thatch on a dwelling which could be expected to
last for many years.

Old
country beliefs were that the stack and rick ornaments would keep away
both birds and witches.
The designs were originally of a religious
nature, thus intended to scare away witches, but a countryman always
hedges his bet,
and would say the ornaments also gave a witch something
to play with, thus diverting her attention from making mischief
elsewhere.

Straw boxing hares

Straw
ornaments on the thatch of houses have been recorded as far back as
1689 .
The skill of the thatcher has moved into new dimensions, and
modern ornaments such as aeroplanes, fishes, pigs, dragons, and even a
"millennium bug"
can now be seen and enjoyed, though the traditional
pheasants and foxes still remain firm favourites.

Straw pig

Although
the term "dolly" is used at times to describe a stack ornament, it
should not be confused with the corn dolly. The thatcher's dolly is
constructed very differently: the simpler designs such as a perched
bird or fish uses straw that is bunched and tied firmly into shape;
with the more complicated designs such as a fox, lamb or peacock, the
straw is wired onto an armature. Some birds are constructed and set
into the roof to serve as a weather vane, and very fine they look, too,
spinning in the breeze.

Straw dog ( schnauzer terrier )

Straw dog
( Welsh terrier )

Straw partridge

Straw cat

C. H. Warren (Corn Country, 1940) mentions
the lamb finials of the limestone belt, and also dispels the myth that
the patterns cut in the straw just under the ridge were of special
significance or a particular thatcher's "trademark", explaining that
the double thickness was necessary where it bore the brunt of the
weather. Similarly, the herringbone or diamond pattern of withies
worked along the eaves served a practical rather than purely decorative
purpose, tethering the straw more securely on an exposed area of the
roof.

Straw horse

The
craft of thatching often runs in families, and the creative skills are
passed down. Several families are well-known for their distinctive
designs of ornaments. One Somerset thatcher who had the misfortune to
suffer a serious accident which ended his thatching career then went on
to specialise in making straw roof finials. He is known to have
been able to make over twenty different designs of birds, leaping
salmon, peacocks, squirrels, etc. many of which can now be seen in
places such as Glastonbury Museum, and Perry's Cider Mills Museum in
Dowlish Wake, Somerset.